Beer – #774 – Deep Creek – Basilica

Being in a club has its privileges and the BeerJerkNZ club has again possibly come up trumps with a 2013 bottle of Deep Creek Basilica. A Porter, and as the nights get longer and it chills down it seems like a good choice.

” ..Vanilla chocolate Porter..”

750ml bottle of beer, wax sealed, but only over a standard tin cap, that is 6.1% ABV, making it about 185 caloriesa serve size. This works out as 3.6 standard drink units.

Origin: Our brewers were inspired by the Gods, where we deviated from our traditional brews by adding cocoa.

Savour this beer for its unmistakable chocolate flavour and you will also discover the hint of vanilla.

We recommend enjoying this beer in a stemmed brandy bulb. The complex aromas will be captured for prolonged enjoyment.

This deep black porter is the most complete, full-flavoured brew we craft. Feel enriched after sampling this divine brew.

So, what could possibly go wrong?

Burst of chocolate aroma issues forth on opening, which was a bit harder c/- that wax seal, lots of carbonation. Really nice rich milk chocolate aroma, did I mention that?

In the glass there is that peculiar and very specific metallic aroma, which I think might only be the vanilla, since it’s a fairly unfamiliar thing, because it moves to a sweet strawberry thing left for a moment or two, it was odd, but passed.

The head on the initial pour was gigantic and lovely, it too settles into a smaller more manageable film.

Initially this is surprisingly bitter, and again there is a passing metallic that settles into a slow drip cold coffee tang, and that sits there in the lingering, a coffee wash, the vanilla sweetness only at the last moment.

It’s not a full bodied beer, there isn’t a lot of punch from the chocolate or the vanilla in the middle, but they’re big at the end.

I’m pretty sure then that it’s the coffee that is adding the metallic edge to this, which because I’m in the club, has been commented on a couple of times by other people, all of them agree though that it’s not a show stopper. Definitely the coffee.

I really would like a more fullness in the body, which I know can be had in a porter, because I’ve had some in the past that have had that ‘thickness’.

I want to be kinder and more fulsome about this beer, They are after all my local pub for all intents and purposes, a mere 5km walk, half of it uphill and the other hand down to the beach, I know I’ve waked it a couple of times (5km is about 3 miles) but only there, no chance walking up the hill that side on the way home I can tell you.

I want to be nicer about the aroma, and the way the vanilla adds sweetness, the coffee adding bitterness and the balance between them, being slightly won by the sweetness, which adds fullness.

I’m left though with a beer that looks brilliant, but has a tang to it that is a bit bothersome, and although it is easy drinking doesn’t really have enough punch or presence about itself.

I do like that raw coffee note that this has when you’re nearing the end of the bottle, which came easily and rather quickly. I didn’t really perceive the vanilla much, but then it’s pretty unusual to have vanilla outside anything other than ice-cream unless you’re one of those weird types who add it to barista coffee for some reason.

Thepdubyah-o-meterrates this as 7 of its things from the thing. This for all the things you’d like or want it still a pretty much solid beer of some merit, for a Porter, they’ve dampened down the hop bitterness and given it a twist of chocolate and a hint of vanilla. It is hard to know if age has wearied this or given it a leg up, I think it might be at it’s best because there might not be al to left to build on.

Would I share with a friend on a porch and set the world to rights? I think that you’d all come to the conclusion that there is a certain single metallic/coffee thing about this that is a bit of a distraction, which might be ok for a talking point but might not gain you first beer privilege the next time you’re having a quite one with a mate.

Music for this: Hold on to your hats ” Brushy One String ” and ” No Man Stop me” on Spotify

Black or chocolate malt gives the porter its dark brown color. Porters are well hopped and heavily malted. This is a medium-bodied beer. Porters can be sweet. Hoppiness can range from bitter to mild. Porters are often confused with stouts.